Labyrinthine
by This Is Da Vinci Speaking
Summary: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Taber is more than just an angry man. Really, the only thing that has access to his soul...is her presence.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** _Labyrinthine  
_**Fanfic Of:** _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_  
**Summary:** Taber is more than just an angry man. Really, the only thing that has access to his soul...is her presence.  
**Rated:** M for language and _secks-yoo-wull_ stuff.

* * *

For the ten years Taber lived in the mental institution, he's never fallen as madly in lust for a nurse as he has for the newcomer, whose name is Raidley. It's an odd enough name—but Taber finds it as sexy as the woman herself. It just rolls off his tongue...just like that time they stole away into the day room while everyone was in quarantine due to that fuckin' bout of influenza that rampaged through the ward, fortunately leaving them untouched. Lots of things rolled off his tongue that day...

He grins as he watches Harding slap Martini's hand away from his meticulously laid-out game of solitaire. Taber is more than just an angry man. Really, the only thing that has access to his soul and mind—his body—is her presence.

Recently Raidley has taken a different schedule to accommodate her training courses, which means Taber can only see her on Mondays, Wednesdays, and the occasional Friday. And despite the effort of attempting to keep their relationship secret, Harding manages to give him a hard time.

''Hey, Tabe-inator," Harding calls to him, bringing him back to Earth. "Tomorrow is Monday, isn't it? Doesn't that mean Miss Quinn is on duty?"

The grin on Taber's face disappears in a flash. "I dunno, Asshole. I don't keep her schedule."

Sefelt finds Defensive Taber hysterical. "But you keep her bras, right?"

Taber looks at him, his arms crossed and the ghost of a smirk gracing his features. He was hoping someone would speculate. "You sayin' I'm fucking Miss Quinn?"

Frederickson chuckles. "If the shoe fits."

The six-foot-odd patient doesn't hesitate to flip the bird as he gets up to approach the nurse's window, rapping twice on the glass.

Nurse Ratched's bruises never fully healed, he notices as she answers. But she got what she deserved.

''Can I help you, Taber?"

He's about to reply when the sound of the gate opening catches his attention. He peers around, ignoring the snickers of the guys, and he stands in the hallway, frowning.

Ratched seems confused as well as she exits the nurses' station. ''Miss Quinn...what are you doing here on a Sunday?"

Raidley seems startled, and she stops walking. "It's Sunday? Oh...well. I don't have class, so...I decided to come to work today. Is that alright?"

''I don't see why not."

Taber's smile is hidden to everyone except for Raidley, who winks at him. He turns and quickly acts as if nothing's happening. He notices everyone is watching him, and he crosses his arms.

"The fuck are you looking at?" he snaps before going to a corner and acting the wallflower.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** _Labyrinthine  
_**Fanfic Of:** _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_  
**Summary:** Taber is more than just an angry man. Really, the only thing that has access to his soul...is her presence.  
**Rated:** M for language and _secks-yoo-wull_ stuff.

* * *

The only time Taber feels safe enough to smile is when he's in the same room as Raidley. He thinks he's falling in love with her, but he can't be sure because he's never felt love before.

But he's come close.

It's night and everyone but Raidley and Taber are asleep. They're sitting on the ledge of the open window, looking through at the depressing chain-link fence surrounding the area in the distance. Taber's leaning back against Raidley, and she's affectionately tracing lines across his forehead with the pad of her thumb. She's found that whenever he's upset, it's the most effective way to calm him down.

Taber rests a hand on her knee and closes his eyes, allowing Raidley's hand to glide smoothly under the collar of his hospital shirt and brush across his chest to rest on his stomach. It always drives him crazy when she does that.

"You okay?" she asks in a whisper, planting a soft kiss on the top of his head.

In response, Taber reaches up and grips her arm firmly. Raidley starts tickling his stomach lightly, causing him to grin and squirm a little, but when she stops, she leans forward and kisses him gingerly. There's genuine love in that kiss, and it doesn't go unnoticed.

The next five minutes are spent trying to unlock the door to the tub room, and once Raidley opens it, Taber nearly dives into the nearest tub. Raidley shuts the door and locks it, then climbs in the empty tub and on top of Taber. He's already kissing her neck as she struggles to pull the parchment-colored shirt off of him, yet he somehow succeeds in undoing the first few buttons on her jumper.

But then it snags just as Raidley tosses Taber's shirt to the side.

"Ah, fuck," he swears, momentarily giving up on the buttons and brushing the tip of his tongue across the base of Raidley's neck. She shudders and he laughs, both in triumph and arousal because he's managed to free his girl from the demon jumper from Hell.

They already know every inch of each other's bodies, but it's like it's all brand new tonight. The scent of Taber and the feel of his hands grazing over her is intoxicating, as is the concept of Raidley being wrapped around him and making those noises because he's hitting just the right spots.

By the time glorious surrender hits, they're stretched out on the bottom of the tub, and Taber has to grip the edge of it to keep from collapsing. He's gripping so hard his knuckles turn white.

Then all is still.

"Shit, Raidley," Taber wheezes, and Raidley turns so he can lie beside her. Arms and legs are entangled, and Raidley kisses his jaw and neck, then his shoulder. She rests a hand on his chest as he wraps an arm around her waist.

It's moments like this that have Raidley wondering how crazy Taber really is.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** _Labyrinthine  
_**Fanfic Of:** _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_  
**Summary:** Taber is more than just an angry man. Really, the only thing that has access to his soul...is her presence.  
**Rated:** M for language and _secks-yoo-wull_ stuff.

* * *

There's a small amount of fear in Raidley's eyes as she approaches Nurse Ratched, who is still applying ice to the bruises on her neck. What she's about to ask is usually not taken lightly on that particular ward, but the woman is determined.

''Miss Ratched," she says quietly with more confidence than she feels. ''May I request something?"

"Go ahead, Miss Quinn."

Raidley takes a deep breath and thinks of Taber. She keeps telling herself that she's doing it for him; that he doesn't belong here anymore. ''I'd like to request that Taber be...re-evaluated."

There's a pause, and Ratched looks at her curiously. "Why Taber?"

Raidley is prepared for this question, and she places her hands on her hips with her thumbs facing out and clears her throat. "My professor has told me to observe the patients, and...I find no indication of mental illness anymore."

This isn't a lie, seeing as Raidley conveniently forgot to mention that the advice from her professor is how she became involved with Taber in the first place. She had been watching him because a few minutes earlier some of the men were playing Sorry!, and she sidled over to the window nearest to them and sat down.

Cheswick had just taken a turn. Taber expressionlessly turned a card and once he saw what it was, his eyes widened and he flipped it so the others could see. A maniacal grin was surfacing.

''Sorry, morons," he said, putting the card down. "Sorry that I can only whack one of you." He picked up his blue piece and flicked off the only red piece on the board.

Cheswick was beside himself. "I'd just gotten out! That's not fair; I just got out!"

Taber leaned back in his seat and placed his hands on his head. "Guess you shouldn't have stopped so close to my Home, hm?"

Harding rolled his eyes. "Chesie, you know Taber doesn't know the meaning of the word 'mercy.'"

"Truer words haven't been said about Dillinger," the usually quiet Scanlon said. Nobody looked at him, but they all heard it and erupted into uproarious laughter.

''Nah," Harding chuckled as the laughter died down. "Tabes doesn't have the shit. He could've killed Ratched himself. Mac nearly did it for him, God bless him."

"Blah, blah, let's get back to the game."

It was after the game was over that anybody even noticed Raidley. By then, she was already interested in Taber.

Nurse Ratched looks as if she's contemplating. ''Well, since you requested, you have to be the one to re-evaluate him."

Raidley blanches.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** _Labyrinthine  
_**Fanfic Of:** _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_  
**Summary:** Taber is more than just an angry man. Really, the only thing that has access to his soul...is her presence.  
**Rated:** M for language and _secks-yoo-wull_ stuff.

* * *

For the year and a half Raidley has worked at the Oregon State Mental Hospital, she's never been so afraid to evaluate someone. She knows something is going to go wrong, be it Taber's results or the testing itself.

Raidley approaches Taber outside. He's sitting in a tree, watching the various patients as they go about their business. His shoes had fallen off, and Raidley takes a moment to admire his feet as they dangle beside the tree trunk. She leans against the tree and wraps an arm gently around his leg so she doesn't startle him, and he looks down at her.

"What?"

"I was thinking." Raidley bites her lip. "I wanna re-evaluate you. I don't think you need to be here anymore."

Taber jumps down from the tree and stares at Raidley with wide eyes. Without warning he grabs her and pushes her roughly against the tree, keeping his face close to hers. At first this startles Raidley, but then she notices the smile growing across Taber's face and she laughs. Soon he's joining her, which is a rare occurrence in itself.

"You really think I'm not crazy anymore, Ray?" he asks quietly, gently squeezing her arms.

Raidley smiles. "Really."

After a second Taber leans forward and softly kisses her, holding her against the tree as she keeps her hands on his waist.

The first of Raidley's customized tests comes the next morning right when Taber wakes up. He gets out of bed only to realize that he's the only one in the dorm and the gate is shut and locked. Slowly and sleepily he shuffles to the gate and grips it, looking around and frowning.

"The hell?" He looks over at the nurse's station, where Nurse Pilbow is handing out medication, and he waves his arms to get her attention.

She sees him and quickly makes her way over, brandishing a set of keys. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were still in here," she explains as she unlocks the gate.

"'Sokay," Taber mutters, leaving the dorm. He finds Raidley standing beside the door to the tub room and watching him. He makes a show of rolling his eyes.

The next test is slightly more likely to push Taber's buttons. Around noon when he gets up to use the restroom, Martini zips in front of him and shuts the door in his face. Taber's eyes widen considerably and he looks around wildly. "Is he allowed to do that?" he asks loudly. "Come on, can't a guy pee when he wants to?"

Raidley watches from outside the nurses' station until Martini emerges, and she and Taber make eye-contact. It's going to be a lot worse, she thinks as he closes the door. A lot worse.

"You have to press his trigger," Ratched had said. "Set him off."

"Dammit," Raidley whispers. "I can't do that. I can't."


End file.
